George Leslie Mackay

George Leslie Mackay (Chinese: 偕叡理 or 馬偕; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kai Jōe-lí or Má-kai; March 21, 1844 – June 2, 1901, aged 57) was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Formosa (Qing-era Taiwan). He served with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. Mackay is among the best known Westerners to have lived in Taiwan.

Mackay was born in Zorra Township, Oxford County, Canada West (now Ontario), Canada. He received his theological training at Knox College in Toronto, Princeton Seminary in the United States, and New College, Edinburgh in Scotland, all Presbyterian institutions.

In 1871 Mackay became the first foreign missionary to be commissioned by the Canada Presbyterian Church (predecessor of both the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the United Church of Canada), arriving in Taiwan on New Year's Eve, 31 December 1871.

After consulting with Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell Sr., a medical doctor serving as a Presbyterian Church of England missionary to southern Formosa (1865), Mackay arrived at Tamsui, northern Formosa in 1872, which remained his home until his death in 1901. Starting with an itinerant dentistry practice amongst the lowland aborigines, he later established churches, schools and a hospital practicing Western biomedicine. He learned to speak vernacular Taiwanese fluently, and married "Minnie" Tiu (張聰明; Tiuⁿ Chhang-miâ), a Taiwanese woman.

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